Information providing method, information providing system, scent imparting apparatus, scent detecting apparatus, and information management apparatus

ABSTRACT

A scent detecting apparatus detects the amount of at least one of a scented substance or a metabolite of the scented substance released from a plant, and transmits detected-amount information indicating the detected amount of at least one of the scented substance or the metabolite to a server apparatus. The server apparatus receives the detected-amount information transmitted by the scent detecting apparatus, estimates the freshness of the plant on the basis of an added amount of the scented substance indicated by stored added-amount information and on the basis of the detected amount of at least one of the scented substance or the metabolite indicated by the received detected-amount information, and transmits freshness information regarding the estimated freshness to the scent detecting apparatus. The scent detecting apparatus receives the freshness information from the server apparatus and presents the received freshness information.

BACKGROUND 1. Technical Field

The present disclosure relates to an information providing method for providing information regarding a plant, an information providing system that provides information regarding a plant, a scent imparting apparatus that adds a scented substance to a plant, a scent detecting apparatus that detects a substance released from a plant, and an information management apparatus that manages information regarding a plant.

2. Description of the Related Art

Recently, there has been a demand for providing fresh food products with production information including the grower and the harvesting date in order to provide safe fresh food products to consumers.

For example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2008-165504 discloses a production information communicating method in which production information of a fresh food product is converted to a two-dimensional barcode, the fresh food product provided with the two-dimensional barcode is put on sale via a distribution channel, a person who wants to purchase the fresh food product put on sale photographs the two-dimensional barcode of the fresh food product with a digital camera, and the production information of the fresh food product obtained by decoding the photographed two-dimensional barcode is displayed.

For example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication (Translation of PCT Application) No. 2006-504491 describes a pharmaceutical product having a scent for establishing the identity and/or supply source of the pharmaceutical product.

SUMMARY

However, with the existing techniques described above, it is difficult to have a plant itself present the freshness of the plant, and there has been a demand for further improvement.

One non-limiting and exemplary embodiment provides a technique for making it possible to have a plant itself present the freshness of the plant.

In one general aspect, the techniques disclosed here feature an information providing method for an information providing system including a scent imparting apparatus that adds a scented substance to a plant, a scent detecting apparatus that detects at least one of the scented substance or a metabolite of the scented substance released from the plant, and an information management apparatus, the information providing method including: adding, by the scent imparting apparatus, the scented substance to the plant; transmitting, by the scent imparting apparatus to the information management apparatus, added-amount information indicating an amount of the scented substance added to the plant; receiving, by the information management apparatus, the added-amount information transmitted by the scent imparting apparatus; storing, by the information management apparatus, the received added-amount information in an added-amount information storage unit; detecting, by the scent detecting apparatus, an amount of at least one of the scented substance or the metabolite of the scented substance released from the plant; transmitting, by the scent detecting apparatus to the information management apparatus, detected-amount information indicating the detected amount of at least one of the scented substance or the metabolite; receiving, by the information management apparatus, the detected-amount information transmitted by the scent detecting apparatus; estimating, by the information management apparatus, a freshness of the plant on the basis of the added amount of the scented substance indicated by the added-amount information stored in the added-amount information storage unit and on the basis of the detected amount of at least one of the scented substance or the metabolite indicated by the received detected-amount information; transmitting, by the information management apparatus, the freshness information regarding the estimated freshness to the scent detecting apparatus; receiving, by the scent detecting apparatus, the freshness information from the information management apparatus; and presenting, by the scent detecting apparatus, the received freshness information.

According to the present disclosure, it is possible to have a plant itself present the freshness of the plant.

It should be noted that this general or specific aspect may be implemented as an apparatus, a system, an integrated circuit, a computer program, or a computer-readable recording medium or may be implemented as a combination of any of an apparatus, a system, a method, an integrated circuit, a computer program, and a computer-readable recording medium. Examples of a computer-readable recording medium include a non-volatile recording medium, such as a CD-ROM (compact disc read-only memory).

Additional benefits and advantages of the disclosed embodiments will become apparent from the specification and drawings. The benefits and/or advantages may be individually obtained by the various embodiments and features of the specification and drawings, which need not all be provided in order to obtain one or more of such benefits and/or advantages.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating an overall configuration of an information providing system in the present embodiment;

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a scent imparting apparatus in the present embodiment;

FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a scent detecting apparatus in the present embodiment;

FIG. 4 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a server apparatus in the present embodiment;

FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating an example of production information stored in a production information storage unit in the present embodiment;

FIG. 6 is a flowchart for explaining a process in which the scent imparting apparatus transmits production information to the server apparatus in the present embodiment;

FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating an example of a production information input screen in the present embodiment;

FIG. 8 is a flowchart for explaining a process in which a freshness is presented by the scent detecting apparatus and the server apparatus in the present embodiment;

FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating an example of presentation information including freshness information in the present embodiment;

FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating an example of a traceability information input screen in the present embodiment;

FIG. 11 is a diagram illustrating an example of presentation information including freshness information, production information, and detection result information in the present embodiment;

FIG. 12 is a diagram illustrating temporal changes in a detected amount of trans-2-hexenyl acetate, which is a metabolite of trans-2-hexenal added to a vegetable or fruit; and

FIG. 13 is a diagram illustrating temporal changes in a detected amount of cis-3-hexenyl acetate, which is a metabolite of trans-2-hexenal added to a vegetable or fruit.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Underlying Knowledge Forming Basis of the Present Disclosure

In Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2008-165504, production information of a fresh food product is converted to a two-dimensional barcode, the two-dimensional barcode is printed on an adhesive label, and the label is affixed to the fresh food product. In this case, the two-dimensional barcode is not printed on the fresh food product itself, and therefore, the label can be forged and the forged label can be affixed to the fresh food product instead of the correct label. Accordingly, the technique disclosed by Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2008-165504 has difficulty in ensuring the safety of the fresh food product.

In Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication (Translation of PCT Application) No. 2006-504491, a scent is imparted to a pharmaceutical product. It is possible to have a pharmaceutical product impregnated with a scented substance in the production process; however, it is difficult to impart a scent to fresh food products, such as strawberries, in the process of growing the fresh food products.

Even if the technique of Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2008-165504 and that of Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication (Translation of PCT Application) No. 2006-504491 are combined, it is difficult to devise a technique for presenting the freshness of a fresh food product with a simple and safe method.

An information providing method according to an aspect of the present disclosure is an information providing method for an information providing system including a scent imparting apparatus that adds a scented substance to a plant, a scent detecting apparatus that detects at least one of the scented substance or a metabolite of the scented substance released from the plant, and an information management apparatus, the information providing method including: adding, by the scent imparting apparatus, the scented substance to the plant; transmitting, by the scent imparting apparatus to the information management apparatus, added-amount information indicating an amount of the scented substance added to the plant; receiving, by the information management apparatus, the added-amount information transmitted by the scent imparting apparatus; storing, by the information management apparatus, the received added-amount information in an added-amount information storage unit; detecting, by the scent detecting apparatus, an amount of at least one of the scented substance or the metabolite of the scented substance released from the plant; transmitting, by the scent detecting apparatus to the information management apparatus, detected-amount information indicating the detected amount of at least one of the scented substance or the metabolite; receiving, by the information management apparatus, the detected-amount information transmitted by the scent detecting apparatus; estimating, by the information management apparatus, a freshness of the plant on the basis of the added amount of the scented substance indicated by the added-amount information stored in the added-amount information storage unit and on the basis of the detected amount of at least one of the scented substance or the metabolite indicated by the received detected-amount information; transmitting, by the information management apparatus, the freshness information regarding the estimated freshness to the scent detecting apparatus; receiving, by the scent detecting apparatus, the freshness information from the information management apparatus; and presenting, by the scent detecting apparatus, the received freshness information.

With this configuration, the amount of at least one of a scented substance or a metabolite of the scented substance released from a plant to which the scented substance is added is detected, the freshness of the plant is estimated on the basis of the added amount of scented substance and the detected amount of at least one of the scented substance or the metabolite, and freshness information regarding the estimated freshness is presented.

The amount of the scented substance added to the plant changes over time. Therefore, the freshness of the plant can be easily estimated on the basis of the added amount of scented substance and the detected amount of at least one of the scented substance or the metabolite, and the freshness of the plant can be easily presented.

Further, in the information providing method described above, the plant may include a vegetable or fruit, or a fresh flower.

With this configuration, the freshness of a vegetable or fruit or the freshness of a fresh flower can be easily presented.

Further, in the information providing method described above, the scent imparting apparatus may add a scented substance that is not contained in the plant.

With this configuration, a scented substance that is not contained in a plant is added, and therefore, how the amount of the scented substance added to the plant changes over time can be detected with certainty.

Further, in the information providing method described above, the information management apparatus may estimate the freshness on the basis of an amount of change between the added amount and the detected amount.

With this configuration, the amount of a scented substance added to a plant changes over time, and therefore, when the amount of change between the added amount of scented substance and a detected amount of at least one of the scented substance or a metabolite is calculated, the freshness of the plant can be easily estimated.

Further, in the information providing method described above, the information management apparatus may estimate an elapsed time since addition of the scented substance to the plant as the freshness.

With this configuration, the elapsed time since addition of a scented substance to a plant can be estimated as the freshness.

An information providing system according to another aspect of the present disclosure is an information providing system including: a scent imparting apparatus that adds a scented substance to a plant; a scent detecting apparatus that detects at least one of the scented substance or a metabolite of the scented substance released from the plant; and an information management apparatus, in which the scent imparting apparatus includes an adder that adds the scented substance to the plant, and a transmitter that transmits to the information management apparatus, added-amount information indicating an amount of the scented substance added to the plant, the scent detecting apparatus includes a detector that detects an amount of at least one of the scented substance or the metabolite of the scented substance released from the plant, a transmitter that transmits to the information management apparatus, detected-amount information indicating the amount of at least one of the scented substance or the metabolite detected by the detector, a receiver that receives freshness information regarding a freshness of the plant from the information management apparatus, and a presenter that presents the freshness information received by the receiver, and the information management apparatus includes a first receiver that receives the added-amount information transmitted by the transmitter of the scent imparting apparatus, an added-amount information storage unit that stores the added-amount information received by the first receiver, a second receiver that receives the detected-amount information transmitted by the transmitter of the scent detecting apparatus, an estimator that estimates the freshness of the plant on the basis of the added amount of the scented substance indicated by the added-amount information stored in the added-amount information storage unit and on the basis of the detected amount of at least one of the scented substance or the metabolite indicated by the detected-amount information received by the second receiver, and a transmitter that transmits the freshness information regarding the freshness estimated by the estimator to the scent detecting apparatus.

With this configuration, the amount of at least one of a scented substance or a metabolite of the scented substance released from a plant to which the scented substance is added is detected, the freshness of the plant is estimated on the basis of the added amount of scented substance and the detected amount of at least one of the scented substance or the metabolite, and freshness information regarding the estimated freshness is presented.

The amount of the scented substance added to the plant changes over time. Therefore, the freshness of the plant can be easily estimated on the basis of the added amount of scented substance and the detected amount of at least one of the scented substance or the metabolite, and the freshness of the plant can be easily presented.

A scent imparting apparatus according to another aspect of the present disclosure is a scent imparting apparatus for adding a scented substance to a plant, the scent imparting apparatus including: an adder that adds the scented substance to the plant; and a transmitter that transmits added-amount information indicating an amount of the scented substance added to the plant to an information management apparatus that estimates a freshness of the plant on the basis of the added amount of the scented substance added to the plant and a detected amount of at least one of the scented substance or a metabolite of the scented substance released from the plant and detected by a scent detecting apparatus.

With this configuration, the freshness of a plant is estimated on the basis of an added amount of scented substance and a detected amount of at least one of the scented substance or a metabolite, and freshness information regarding the estimated freshness is presented. The amount of the scented substance added to the plant changes over time. Therefore, the freshness of the plant can be easily estimated on the basis of the added amount of scented substance and the detected amount of at least one of the scented substance or the metabolite, and the freshness of the plant can be easily presented.

A scent detecting apparatus according to another aspect of the present disclosure is a scent detecting apparatus for detecting at least one of a scented substance or a metabolite of the scented substance released from a plant, the scent detecting apparatus including: a detector that detects an amount of at least one of the scented substance or the metabolite of the scented substance released from the plant to which the scented substance is added; a transmitter that transmits detected-amount information indicating the amount of at least one of the scented substance or the metabolite detected by the detector; a receiver that receives freshness information regarding a freshness of the plant from an information management apparatus that estimates the freshness of the plant on the basis of an added amount of the scented substance added to the plant and the detected amount of at least one of the scented substance or the metabolite indicated by the detected-amount information; and a presenter that presents the freshness information received by the receiver.

With this configuration, the amount of at least one of a scented substance or a metabolite of the scented substance released from a plant to which the scented substance is added is detected, the freshness of the plant is estimated on the basis of the added amount of scented substance and the detected amount of at least one of the scented substance or the metabolite, and freshness information regarding the estimated freshness is presented. The amount of the scented substance added to the plant changes over time. Therefore, the freshness of the plant can be easily estimated on the basis of the added amount of scented substance and the detected amount of at least one of the scented substance or the metabolite, and the freshness of the plant can be easily presented.

An information management apparatus according to another aspect of the present disclosure includes: a first receiver that receives added-amount information transmitted by a scent imparting apparatus that adds a scented substance to a plant and indicating an amount of the scented substance added to the plant; an added-amount information storage unit that stores the added-amount information received by the first receiver; a second receiver that receives detected-amount information transmitted by a scent detecting apparatus that detects at least one of the scented substance or a metabolite of the scented substance released from the plant, and indicating a detected amount of at least one of the scented substance or the metabolite; an estimator that estimates a freshness of the plant on the basis of the added amount of the scented substance indicated by the added-amount information stored in the added-amount information storage unit and on the basis of the detected amount of at least one of the scented substance or the metabolite indicated by the detected-amount information received by the second receiver; and a transmitter that transmits freshness information regarding the freshness estimated by the estimator to the scent detecting apparatus.

With this configuration, the freshness of a plant is estimated on the basis of an added amount of scented substance and a detected amount of at least one of the scented substance or a metabolite, and freshness information regarding the estimated freshness is presented. The amount of the scented substance added to the plant changes over time. Therefore, the freshness of the plant can be easily estimated on the basis of the added amount of scented substance and the detected amount of at least one of the scented substance or the metabolite, and the freshness of the plant can be easily presented.

Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present disclosure will be described with reference to the attached drawings. Note that the following embodiment is an example embodiment of the present disclosure and is not intended to limit the technical scope of the present disclosure.

Embodiment

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating an overall configuration of an information providing system in the present embodiment.

The information providing system illustrated in FIG. 1 includes a scent imparting apparatus 1, a server apparatus 2, and scent detecting apparatuses 3 and 4. The server apparatus 2 is connected to each of the scent imparting apparatus 1 and the scent detecting apparatuses 3 and 4 via a network 5 so as to enable communication. The network 5 is, for example, the Internet.

The scent imparting apparatus 1 is used by a grower of vegetables or fruits or by an agent institution of the grower and adds a scented substance to the vegetables or fruits. Vegetables or fruits are examples of plants and are distributed to consumers from the grower. Targets to which the scent imparting apparatus 1 adds a scented substance may be fresh flowers. Targets to which the scent imparting apparatus 1 adds a scented substance are not limited to plants and may be, for example, fresh food products. The scented substance is, for example, a food additive, the use of which is permitted on the basis of the Food Sanitation Law.

The scent detecting apparatus 3 is used by a distributor that transports vegetables or fruits from growers to retailers and detects at least one of a scented substance or a metabolite of the scented substance released from a vegetable or fruit. Vegetables and fruits breathe. Therefore, a vegetable or fruit may release a scented substance taken therein as is, or may transform a scented substance taken therein to another compound by a chemical reaction caused by an enzyme or the like and release the compound obtained as a result of transformation as a metabolite. Note that in a case where plural distributors are involved in a distribution process of vegetables or fruits, the information providing system may include plural scent detecting apparatuses 3 for the respective distributors.

The scent detecting apparatus 4 is used by a retailer that sells vegetables or fruits or by a consumer who purchases vegetables or fruits and detects at least one of a scented substance or a metabolite of the scented substance released from a vegetable or fruit. Note that the scent detecting apparatus 3 and the scent detecting apparatus 4 have the same configuration.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of the scent imparting apparatus in the present embodiment.

The scent imparting apparatus 1 illustrated in FIG. 2 includes a processor 11, a scent reservoir 12, a scent imparter 13, a scent detector 14, a display 15, an input unit 16, and a communicator 17.

The processor 11 includes a scent imparting controller 111, a scent detection controller 112, and a production information generator 113.

The input unit 16 is, for example, a touch panel, a keyboard, a mouse, or a switch and accepts an input operation by a grower.

The scent imparting controller 111 controls operations of the scent reservoir 12 and the scent imparter 13 on the basis of an input operation via the input unit 16. For example, a grower puts a vegetable or fruit in an enclosed space and inputs to the input unit 16 an addition start instruction for starting addition of a scented substance to the vegetable or fruit. The grower may input the type of a scented substance to be added to the vegetable or fruit via the input unit 16. In response to input of the addition start instruction via the input unit 16, the scent imparting controller 111 controls operations of the scent reservoir 12 and the scent imparter 13 so as to add the scented substance to the vegetable or fruit.

The scent reservoir 12 stores different types of scented substances. The scent reservoir 12 supplies a scented substance specified by the scent imparting controller 111 to the scent imparter 13. The scent imparting controller 111 may notify the production information generator 113 of the type of scented substance for which an instruction is input.

The scent imparter 13 adds a scented substance to a vegetable or fruit. The scent imparter 13 fills an enclosed space in which a vegetable or fruit is put with a predetermined amount of scented substance supplied from the scent reservoir 12. When the vegetable or fruit is left within the enclosed space filled with the scented substance for a predetermined time, the vegetable or fruit absorbs the scented substance, and the scented substance is added to the vegetable or fruit. The scent imparting controller 111 may notify the production information generator 113 of the date and time the predetermined time later as the date and time when the scent imparter 13 added the scented substance to the vegetable or fruit, that is, the scent imparting date and time. Note that the scent imparter 13 may add a scented substance that is not contained in the vegetable or fruit. The scent imparter 13 may add a different scented substance depending on the vegetable or fruit. The scent imparter 13 may add plural different scented substances to the vegetable or fruit.

For example, in a case where a scented substance is added to a processed product, such as a pharmaceutical product, the surface of the processed product needs to be coated with the scented substance, and it is not easy to add the scented substance. On the other hand, in the present embodiment, plants, such as vegetables and fruits, breathe, and therefore, when a vegetable or fruit is put in an enclosed space filled with a scented substance, the scented substance can be easily added to the vegetable or fruit. Further, it is difficult to alter the scented substance directly added to the vegetable or fruit, and therefore, the safety of the vegetable or fruit can be ensured.

The type of scented substance is information for identifying what the scented substance is and, for example, may be the name of the scented substance.

The type of metabolite is information for identifying what the metabolite is and, for example, may be the name of the metabolite.

The scent detection controller 112 controls operations of the scent detector 14 on the basis of an input operation via the input unit 16. For example, a grower puts a vegetable or fruit in an enclosed space and inputs to the input unit 16 a detection start instruction for starting detection of the type and amount of a scented substance released from the vegetable or fruit.

The scent detector 14 is, for example, a gas chromatograph mass spectrometer and detects the type and amount of a scented substance added to a vegetable or fruit. When the amount of a scented substance of a vegetable or fruit is detected immediately after addition of the scented substance, the amount of the scented substance added to the vegetable or fruit can be detected. Note that the amount of a scented substance added to a vegetable or fruit is represented by, for example, a concentration or a peak area. The scent detector 14 outputs the detected amount of scented substance to the scent detection controller 112. The scent detection controller 112 outputs to the production information generator 113 the amount of scented substance detected by the scent detector 14 as added-amount information indicating the amount of the scented substance added to the vegetable or fruit.

The production information generator 113 generates production information that includes added-amount information indicating the amount of a scented substance added to a vegetable or fruit. The production information generator 113 displays on the display 15 a production information input screen for accepting input, by a grower, of production information regarding a vegetable or fruit. FIG. 7 illustrates an example of the production information input screen. The grower inputs production information via the input unit 16. The production information includes, for example, the product lot, the harvesting date, the product name (that is, the type of vegetable or fruit), grower information indicating the name of the grower, the type of a scented substance added to the vegetable or fruit, the type of a metabolite generated from the added scented substance by metabolism of the vegetable or fruit, the date and time when the scented substance was added, the scent detection result indicating whether the added scented substance was detected, added-amount information indicating the concentration of the added scented substance, the scent detecting person, the shipping date and time, the destination of shipment, and the transport operator.

The grower need not input the type of scented substance and the date and time when the scented substance was added, and the production information generator 113 may write to the production information input screen, the type of scented substance and the scent imparting date and time communicated from the scent imparting controller 111.

The grower need not input the type of scented substance, and the production information generator 113 may write to the production information input screen, the type of scented substance communicated from the scent detection controller 112.

The grower need not input the type of metabolite, and the production information generator 113 may write the type of metabolite obtained with a method described below to the production information input screen.

The scent imparting apparatus 1 may include a memory that stores in advance a table in which a type of vegetable or fruit, a type of scented substance, and a type of metabolite generated by the vegetable or fruit when the scented substance is added to the vegetable or fruit are associated with one another. In this case, the production information generator 113 reads a type of metabolite associated with the type of vegetable or fruit and with the type of added scented substance from the memory to obtain the type of metabolite.

The display 15 is, for example, a liquid crystal display and displays the production information input screen for a vegetable or fruit to accept input of production information of a vegetable or fruit from the grower.

The communicator 17 includes a production information transmitter 171. The production information transmitter 171 transmits to the server apparatus 2 production information that includes added-amount information indicating the amount of a scented substance added to a vegetable or fruit. The scent imparting apparatus 1 may generate the above-described production information for each product lot and transmit the production information generated for each product lot to the server apparatus 2.

Note that in the present embodiment, the scent imparting apparatus 1 includes the scent detection controller 112 and the scent detector 14; however, the present disclosure is not limited to this. The scent imparting apparatus 1 may include a memory that stores a table in which an amount of a scented substance added to a vegetable or fruit and an amount of the scented substance absorbed by the vegetable or fruit are associated with each other. The production information generator 113 may obtain the amount of a scented substance added by the scent imparter 13 from the scent imparting controller 111 and read an amount of the scented substance absorbed by the vegetable or fruit associated with the amount of added scented substance from the memory as added-amount information. In this case, the scent detection controller 112 or the scent detector 14 is not necessary.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of the scent detecting apparatus in the present embodiment.

The scent detecting apparatus 3 illustrated in FIG. 3 includes an input unit 31, a processor 32, a scent detector 33, a display 34, and a communicator 35. Note that the configuration of the scent detecting apparatus 4 is the same as the configuration of the scent detecting apparatus 3.

The input unit 31 is, for example, a touch panel, a keyboard, a mouse, or a switch and accepts an input operation by a distributor or by a retailer.

The processor 32 includes a scent detection controller 321 and a display controller 322. The communicator 35 includes a detection information transmitter 351 and a presentation information receiver 352.

The scent detection controller 321 controls operations of the scent detector 33 on the basis of an input operation via the input unit 31. For example, a distributor or a retailer puts a vegetable or fruit in an enclosed space and inputs to the input unit 31 a detection start instruction for starting detection of the type and amount of at least one of a scented substance or a metabolite of the scented substance released from the vegetable or fruit.

The scent detector 33 is, for example, a gas chromatograph mass spectrometer and detects the type and amount of at least one of a scented substance or a metabolite of the scented substance released from a vegetable or fruit.

Plants, such as vegetables and fruits, breathe, release a scented substance added thereto, or transform the added scented substance to another compound and release the compound obtained as a result of transformation as a metabolite. Therefore, the scent detector 33 detects the type and amount of a scented substance released from a vegetable or fruit, detects the type and amount of a metabolite released from a vegetable or fruit, or detects the types and amounts of both a scented substance and a metabolite released from a vegetable or fruit. Note that it is not always the case that one type of metabolite is released from a vegetable or fruit to which one type of scented substance is added, and plural types of metabolites may be released. Further, the amount of at least one of a scented substance or a metabolite released from a vegetable or fruit is represented by, for example, a concentration or a peak area.

The scent detector 33 outputs the detected type and amount of at least one of the scented substance or the metabolite to the scent detection controller 321. The scent detection controller 321 outputs to the detection information transmitter 351 the type and amount of at least one of the scented substance or the metabolite detected by the scent detector 33 as detected-amount information indicating the type and amount of at least one of the scented substance or the metabolite detected from the vegetable or fruit.

The detection information transmitter 351 transmits the detected-amount information indicating the type and amount of at least one of the scented substance or the metabolite detected by the scent detector 33 to the server apparatus 2.

The presentation information receiver 352 receives presentation information including freshness information regarding the freshness of a vegetable or fruit from the server apparatus 2.

The display controller 322 controls operations of the display 34 and outputs presentation information including freshness information received by the presentation information receiver 352 to the display 34 to display the presentation information on the display 34.

The display 34 presents presentation information including freshness information received by the presentation information receiver 352.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of the server apparatus in the present embodiment.

The server apparatus 2 is an example of the information management apparatus. The server apparatus 2 illustrated in FIG. 4 includes a communicator 21, a processor 22, and a memory 23.

The communicator 21 includes a production information receiver 211, a detection information receiver 212, and a presentation information transmitter 213. The processor 22 includes a scent determiner 221, a freshness estimator 222, and a presentation information generator 223. The memory 23 includes a production information storage unit 231 and a temporal-change information storage unit 232.

The production information receiver 211 receives production information including added-amount information transmitted by the scent imparting apparatus 1. The production information receiver 211 may receive production information for each product lot transmitted by the scent imparting apparatus 1. The production information receiver 211 stores the received production information in the production information storage unit 231.

The production information storage unit 231 stores production information received by the production information receiver 211.

The production information storage unit 231 may store production information for each product lot received by the production information receiver 211.

FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating an example of production information stored in the production information storage unit in the present embodiment. As illustrated in FIG. 5 , each piece of production information includes, for example, the product lot, the harvesting date, the product name, grower information indicating the name of the grower, the type of a scented substance added to the vegetable or fruit, the type of metabolite, the date and time when the scented substance was added, the scent detection result indicating whether the added scented substance was detected, added-amount information indicating the concentration of the added scented substance, the scent detecting person, the shipping date and time, the destination of shipment, and the transport operator. The production information storage unit 231 stores production information for each product lot.

For example, production information of a vegetable or fruit includes the product lot “S00001”, the harvesting date “4/1”, the product name (the type of vegetable or fruit) “strawberry”, grower information (the name of the grower) “AA”, the type of scented substance “X”, the type of metabolite “X1”, the date and time when the scented substance was added “4/1, 10:00”, the scent detection result indicating that the scented substance was detected, added-amount information (the concentration of the added scented substance) “123.4”, the person detecting the scented substance “CC”, the shipping date and time “4/1, 15:00”, the destination of shipment “EE”, and the transport operator “GG”. Note that production information is not limited to that described above.

The detection information receiver 212 receives detected-amount information transmitted by the scent detecting apparatus 3. The detection information receiver 212 outputs the received detected-amount information to the scent determiner 221.

The scent determiner 221 determines whether production information that matches the type of at least one of a scented substance or a metabolite included in the detected-amount information received by the detection information receiver 212 is present in the production information storage unit 231. In a case where the scent determiner 221 determines that production information that matches the type of at least one of a scented substance or a metabolite included in the detected-amount information is present in the production information storage unit 231, the scent determiner 221 reads the production information that matches the type of at least one of a scented substance or a metabolite included in the detected-amount information from the production information storage unit 231.

The scent determiner 221 may identify production information stored in the production information storage unit 231 and including a type of scented substance or a type of metabolite that matches the type of substance (that is, scented substance or metabolite) detected from a vegetable or fruit and included in the detected-amount information received from the scent detecting apparatus 3, and may read the identified production information from the production information storage unit 231.

The temporal-change information storage unit 232 stores in advance temporal-change information that includes a type of vegetable or fruit, a type of a scented substance added to the vegetable or fruit, and a function expressing how the amount of at least one of the scented substance or a metabolite released form the vegetable or fruit changes over time.

The freshness estimator 222 estimates the freshness of a vegetable or fruit on the basis of the added amount of scented substance indicated by added-amount information stored in the production information storage unit 231 and on the basis of the detected amount of at least one of a scented substance or a metabolite indicated by detected-amount information received by the detection information receiver 212. The freshness estimator 222 estimates the freshness of a vegetable or fruit on the basis of the amount of change between the added amount and the detected amount.

A scented substance or a metabolite released from a vegetable or fruit decreases over time after addition of the scented substance. Further, the decrease rate differs depending on the type of vegetable or fruit and the type of added scented substance. Therefore, when the type of vegetable or fruit, the type of added scented substance, and the amount of change between the added amount and the detected amount are determined, the elapsed time since addition of the scented substance to the vegetable or fruit can be estimated. Accordingly, the freshness estimator 222 can estimate the elapsed time since addition of the scented substance to the vegetable or fruit as the freshness.

First, the freshness estimator 222 extracts, from production information that matches the type of at least one of a scented substance or a metabolite included in detected-amount information, a type of vegetable or fruit, a type of added scented substance, and an added amount of scented substance. Next, the freshness estimator 222 extracts a function corresponding to the type of vegetable or fruit and the type of added scented substance from the temporal-change information storage unit 232. Next, the freshness estimator 222 calculates the amount of change (difference) between the detected amount of at least one of the scented substance or the metabolite included in the detected-amount information and the added amount of scented substance extracted from the production information and substitutes the calculated amount of change into the function to thereby calculate the elapsed time since addition of the scented substance to the vegetable or fruit. The calculated elapsed time represents the freshness of the vegetable or fruit.

Note that in the present embodiment, the memory 23 may store in advance a table in which a type of vegetable or fruit, a type of added scented substance, the amount of change between an added amount and a detected amount, and a freshness are associated in advance with one another. In this case, the freshness is expressed in, for example, percentage. As time passes, the amount of change increases. Therefore, as the amount of change is smaller, the freshness has a higher value. In this case, the freshness estimator 222 reads a freshness associated with the type of vegetable or fruit, the type of added scented substance, and the amount of change between the added amount and the detected amount from the table.

The presentation information generator 223 generates presentation information including freshness information regarding a freshness estimated by the freshness estimator 222.

The presentation information transmitter 213 transmits presentation information including freshness information regarding a freshness estimated by the freshness estimator 222 to the scent detecting apparatus 3.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart for explaining a process in which the scent imparting apparatus transmits production information to the server apparatus in the present embodiment.

First, in step S1, the scent imparter 13 of the scent imparting apparatus 1 adds a scented substance to a vegetable or fruit in accordance with control from the scent imparting controller 111.

Next, in step S2, the scent detector 14 detects the amount of the scented substance added to the vegetable or fruit in accordance with control from the scent detection controller 112.

Next, in step S3, the production information generator 113 displays on the display 15 a production information input screen for accepting input, by the grower, of production information.

FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating an example of the production information input screen in the present embodiment.

On a production information input screen 151 illustrated in FIG. 7 , input fields for accepting input, by the grower, of grower information, the harvesting date, the product name, the shipping date and time, the destination of shipment, the transport operator, the type of metabolite, the scent detecting person, and the product lot are displayed. Note that as the type of scented substance, the type of a scented substance added by the scent imparter 13 is automatically displayed. As the scent imparting date and time, the date and time when the scented substance was added by the scent imparter 13 is automatically displayed. As the amount (concentration) of scented substance, the amount of the scented substance detected by the scent detector 14 is automatically displayed. The type of metabolite may be input by the grower. Alternatively, when the product name (type of vegetable or fruit) is input, a type of metabolite corresponding to the type of vegetable or fruit and to the type of the added scented substance may be automatically displayed.

Next, in step S4, the input unit 16 accepts input of production information by the grower. The grower inputs information to each input field of the production information input screen 151 displayed on the display 15. As illustrated in FIG. 7 , a transmit button 152 and an exit button 153 are displayed on the production information input screen 151. When the transmit button 152 is pressed, production information is generated and transmitted. When the exit button 153 is pressed, the process ends without generating production information.

Next, in step S5, the production information generator 113 generates production information that includes added-amount information indicating the amount of the scented substance added to the vegetable or fruit.

Next, in step S6, the production information transmitter 171 transmits the production information to the server apparatus 2. The production information transmitter 171 may transmit production information generated for each product lot to the server apparatus 2.

Next, in step S7, the production information receiver 211 of the server apparatus 2 receives the production information transmitted by the scent imparting apparatus 1. The production information receiver 211 may receive production information for each product lot transmitted by the scent imparting apparatus 1.

Next, in step S8, the production information receiver 211 stores the received production information in the production information storage unit 231.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart for explaining a process in which a freshness is presented by the scent detecting apparatus and the server apparatus in the present embodiment.

First, in step S11, the scent detector 33 of the scent detecting apparatus 3 detects the type and amount of at least one of a scented substance or a metabolite released from a vegetable or fruit in accordance with control from the scent detection controller 321.

Next, in step S12, the detection information transmitter 351 transmits to the server apparatus 2 detected-amount information indicating the type and amount of at least one of the scented substance or the metabolite detected by the scent detector 33.

Next, in step S13, the detection information receiver 212 of the server apparatus 2 receives the detected-amount information transmitted by the scent detecting apparatus 3.

Next, in step S14, the scent determiner 221 determines whether production information that matches the type of at least one of the scented substance or the metabolite included in the detected-amount information received by the detection information receiver 212 is present in the production information storage unit 231.

In step S14, the scent determiner 221 may determine whether production information including a type of scented substance or a type of metabolite that matches the type of substance (that is, scented substance or metabolite) detected from the vegetable or fruit and included in the detected-amount information received by the detection information receiver 212 is stored in the production information storage unit 231.

In a case where the scent determiner 221 determines that production information that matches the type of at least one of the scented substance or the metabolite included in the detected-amount information is present in the production information storage unit 231 (YES in step S14), in step S15, the freshness estimator 222 estimates the freshness of the vegetable or fruit on the basis of the added amount of scented substance indicated by added-amount information stored in the production information storage unit 231 and on the basis of the detected amount of at least one of the scented substance or the metabolite indicated by the detected-amount information received by the detection information receiver 212.

In a case where production information including a type of scented substance or a type of metabolite that matches the type of substance (that is, scented substance or metabolite) detected from the vegetable or fruit and included in the detected-amount information is stored in the production information storage unit 231 (YES in step S14), in step S15, the freshness estimator 222 may estimate the freshness of the vegetable or fruit on the basis of the added amount of scented substance indicated by added-amount information stored in the production information storage unit 231 and on the basis of the detected amount of the substance detected from the vegetable or fruit and indicated by the detected-amount information received by the detection information receiver 212.

Next, in step S16, the presentation information generator 223 generates presentation information that includes freshness information regarding the freshness estimated by the freshness estimator 222.

On the other hand, in a case where the scent determiner 221 determines that production information that matches the type of at least one of the scented substance or the metabolite included in the detected-amount information is not present in the production information storage unit 231 (NO in step S14), in step S16, the presentation information generator 223 generates presentation information for indicating that production information corresponding to the vegetable or fruit that is a detection target is not stored.

On the other hand, in a case where production information including a type of scented substance or a type of metabolite that matches the type of substance (that is, scented substance or metabolite) detected from the vegetable or fruit and included in the detected-amount information is not stored in the production information storage unit 231 (NO in step S14), in step S16, the presentation information generator 223 may generate presentation information for indicating that production information corresponding to the vegetable or fruit that is a detection target is not stored.

Next, in step S17, the presentation information transmitter 213 transmits the presentation information generated by the presentation information generator 223 to the scent detecting apparatus 3.

Next, in step S18, the presentation information receiver 352 of the scent detecting apparatus 3 receives the presentation information transmitted by the server apparatus 2.

Next, in step S19, the display controller 322 displays the presentation information received by the presentation information receiver 352 on the display 34. Here, in a case where the presentation information includes freshness information regarding a freshness, the display 34 displays the presentation information including the freshness information. On the other hand, in a case where the presentation information indicates that production information corresponding to the vegetable or fruit that is a detection target is not stored, the display 34 displays the presentation information indicating that production information corresponding to the vegetable or fruit that is a detection target is not stored.

FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating an example of presentation information including freshness information in the present embodiment. Presentation information 341 includes not only freshness information 342 but also production information. The production information includes the product lot, grower information, the harvesting date, the product name, the shipping date and time, the destination of shipment, and the transport operator. The freshness information 342 includes the elapsed time since addition of a scented substance to the vegetable or fruit. For the presentation information 341, an exit button 343 is displayed. When the exit button 343 is pressed, the process ends.

As described above, the amount of at least one of a scented substance or a metabolite of the scented substance released from a vegetable or fruit to which the scented substance is added is detected, the freshness of the vegetable or fruit is estimated on the basis of the added amount of scented substance and the detected amount of at least one of the scented substance or the metabolite, and freshness information regarding the estimated freshness is presented. The amount of the scented substance added to the vegetable or fruit changes over time. Therefore, the freshness of the vegetable or fruit can be easily estimated on the basis of the added amount of scented substance and the detected amount of at least one of the scented substance or the metabolite, and the freshness of the vegetable or fruit can be easily presented.

Note that in the present embodiment, a scented substance is added to a vegetable or fruit and the scented substance released from the vegetable or fruit is detected, which enables not only estimation of the freshness but also storage of a distribution log during a distribution process. That is, the display 34 of the scent detecting apparatus 3 may display a traceability information input screen for storing a distribution log by a distributor or by a retailer.

FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating an example of the traceability information input screen in the present embodiment.

On a traceability information input screen 344 illustrated in FIG. 10 , input fields for accepting input, by the distributor or the retailer, of the product lot, the product name, and the scent detecting person are displayed. Note that as the scent detection date and time, the date and time when at least one of a scented substance or a metabolite was detected by the scent detector 33 is automatically displayed. As the type of at least one of a scented substance or a metabolite, the type of at least one of the scented substance or the metabolite detected by the scent detector 33 is automatically displayed. Further, as the amount of at least one of a scented substance or a metabolite, the amount (concentration) of at least one of the scented substance or the metabolite detected by the scent detector 33 is automatically displayed.

After the type and amount of at least one of a scented substance or a metabolite have been detected by the scent detector 33 (after the process in step S11 in FIG. 8 ), the display 34 displays the traceability information input screen 344. The distributor or the retailer inputs information to each input field of the traceability information input screen 344 displayed on the display 34. As illustrated in FIG. 10 , on the traceability information input screen 344, a transmit button 345 and an exit button 346 are displayed. When the transmit button 345 is pressed, traceability information is generated and transmitted. When the exit button 346 is pressed, the process ends without generating traceability information.

The traceability information includes, for example, the product lot, the product name, the scent detecting person, the scent detection date and time when at least one of a scented substance or a metabolite was detected, the type of at least one of the scented substance or the metabolite, and the amount of at least one of the scented substance or the metabolite.

The communicator 35 transmits the traceability information to the server apparatus 2. The communicator 21 of the server apparatus 2 receives the traceability information transmitted by the scent detecting apparatus 3. The communicator 21 stores the received traceability information in the memory 23. Thereafter, processes the same as the processes in step S14 and step S15 in FIG. 8 are performed, and the presentation information generator 223 generates presentation information that includes freshness information regarding a freshness estimated by the freshness estimator 222, production information, and detection result information indicating the result of detection of the scented substance in the distribution process.

FIG. 11 is a diagram illustrating an example of presentation information including freshness information, production information, and detection result information in the present embodiment.

The display 34 displays presentation information 347 on a traceability result screen. The presentation information 347 includes not only freshness information 348 but also production information and detection result information. The production information includes the product lot, grower information, the harvesting date, the product name, the shipping date and time, the destination of shipment, and the transport operator. The freshness information 348 indicates the elapsed time since addition of a scented substance to the vegetable or fruit. The detection result information indicates the result of detection of the scented substance in the distribution process. First scent detection indicates whether the scented substance is detected when the scented substance is added to the vegetable or fruit. Second scent detection indicates whether the scented substance or a metabolite is detected when a distributor picks up the vegetable or fruit. Third scent detection indicates whether the scented substance or a metabolite is detected when a retailer receives the vegetable or fruit. For the presentation information 347, an exit button 349 is displayed. When the exit button 349 is pressed, the process ends.

When the retailer checks the detection result information displayed on the traceability result screen, the retailer can know whether a scented substance is detected in the distribution process.

Note that the detection result information may include the date and time when a scented substance is detected at the time when the scented substance is added to the vegetable or fruit, the date and time when the scented substance is detected at the time when a distributor picks up the vegetable or fruit, and the date and time when the scented substance is detected at the time when a retailer receives the vegetable or fruit.

Now, the result of an experiment is described in which a scented substance was added to a vegetable or fruit and at least one of the scented substance or a metabolite released from the vegetable or fruit was measured every predetermined time.

In the experiment, a strawberry was used as the vegetable or fruit, and trans-2-hexenal was used as the scented substance. First, the present inventors put a strawberry and a piece of filter paper impregnated with trans-2-hexenal in a plastic cup and sealed the plastic cup to thereby add the scented substance to the strawberry.

Subsequently, the present inventors put the strawberry to which the scented substance was added in a sample bag, sealed the sample bag, and left the sample bag for two hours at room temperature. Next, the present inventors inserted Tenax TA (60/80) into the sample bag as an absorbent to absorb gas of 500 ml in the sample bag. Subsequently, the present inventors collected the gas from Tenax TA (60/80) that absorbed the gas by thermal desorption and analyzed the gas component using a gas chromatograph mass spectrometer. Further, the present inventors stored the strawberry from which the gas was collected in a refrigerator, took the strawberry out of the refrigerator every predetermined time and collected the gas with a method similar to that described above, and analyzed the gas component using the gas chromatograph mass spectrometer (GC-MS).

From the strawberry to which trans-2-hexenal was added, two types of gas components, namely, trans-2-hexenyl acetate and cis-3-hexenyl acetate, which are assumed to be metabolites of trans-2-hexenal, were detected. The present inventors calculated the peak areas of the spectra of the two types of gas components obtained by using the gas chromatograph mass spectrometer as the detected amounts, assumed a reference detected amount obtained one day after addition of the scented substance to be 100%, and plotted the percentage of the detected amount detected every predetermined time relative to the reference detected amount on a graph.

FIG. 12 is a diagram illustrating temporal changes in the detected amount of trans-2-hexenyl acetate, which is a metabolite of trans-2-hexenal added to a vegetable or fruit. FIG. 13 is a diagram illustrating temporal changes in the detected amount of cis-3-hexenyl acetate, which is a metabolite of trans-2-hexenal added to a vegetable or fruit. Note that in FIG. 12 and FIG. 13 , the vertical axis represents the peak area of a gas component measured by the gas chromatograph mass spectrometer, the horizontal axis represents the elapsed days since addition of the scented substance, each small square indicates the detected amount of a metabolite from a first vegetable or fruit, and each small rhombus indicates the detected amount of a metabolite from a second vegetable or fruit different from the first vegetable or fruit. The first vegetable or fruit and the second vegetable or fruit are different individual strawberries.

As illustrated in FIG. 12 and FIG. 13 , it is found that the metabolite decreases as time passes.

In FIG. 12 , the straight line L1 is a regression line that represents temporal changes in the detected amount of trans-2-hexenyl acetate detected from the first vegetable or fruit by a linear function, and the straight line L2 is a regression line that represents temporal changes in the detected amount of trans-2-hexenyl acetate detected from the second vegetable or fruit by a linear function. In FIG. 13 , the straight line L3 is a regression line that represents temporal changes in the detected amount of cis-3-hexenyl acetate detected from the first vegetable or fruit by a linear function, and the straight line L4 is a regression line that represents temporal changes in the detected amount of cis-3-hexenyl acetate detected from the second vegetable or fruit by a linear function

As illustrated in FIG. 12 and FIG. 13 , the slopes of the straight line L1 and the straight line L2 are substantially the same, and the slopes of the straight line L3 and the straight line L4 are substantially the same. This means that although the detected amount of metabolite varies even for the same vegetable or fruit due to the individual difference, the rate of change is substantially the same. Accordingly, when the freshness estimator 222 calculates the amount of change (difference) between the detected amount of at least one of a scented substance or a metabolite included in detected-amount information and the added amount of scented substance extracted from production information and substitutes the calculated amount of change into a function of a regression line, the freshness estimator 222 can calculate the elapsed time since addition of the scented substance to the vegetable or fruit.

When trans-2-hexenyl acetate and cis-3-hexenyl acetate, which are assumed to be metabolites of trans-2-hexenal that is a scented substance, are detected, a vegetable or fruit to which the scented substance is added can be identified. Further, when plural types of metabolites are detected, the certainty that the scented substance is trans-2-hexenal can be increased. When the amount of change in a detected gas component is calculated, the elapsed time since addition of the scented substance can be estimated.

The present disclosure is not limited to the above-described embodiment. The embodiment to which various modifications conceived by a person skilled in the art are made and a form configured by combining constituent elements in different embodiments may be included in the scope of the present disclosure without departing from the spirit of the present disclosure.

Note that in the above-described embodiment, each constituent element may be configured as dedicated hardware or may be implemented by executing a software program suitable to the constituent element. Each constituent element may be implemented by a program executor, such as a CPU or a processor, reading a software program recorded to a recording medium, such as a hard disk or a semiconductor memory, and executing the software program.

Some or all of the functions of the apparatuses according to the embodiment of the present disclosure are typically implemented as an LSI (large-scale integration) integrated circuit. Each of the functions may be implemented as one chip, or one chip may include some or all of the functions. The circuit integration is not limited to LSI, and the functions may be implemented as a dedicated circuit or a general-purpose processor. An FPGA (field-programmable gate array) that can be programmable after LSI manufacture or a reconfigurable processor for which circuit cell connections and settings in LSI can be reconfigured may be used.

In the present disclosure, all or some of the units or devices, or all or some of the functional blocks of the block diagrams illustrated in FIG. 2 to FIG. 4 may be implemented as a semiconductor device, a semiconductor integrated circuit (IC), or one or more electronic circuits including LSI (large-scale integration).

Further, some or all of the functions of the apparatuses according to the embodiment of the present disclosure may be implemented by a processor, such as a CPU, executing a program.

Software for implementing the scent imparting apparatus in the present disclosure may cause a computer to perform steps included in the flowchart illustrated in FIG. 6 .

Software for implementing the server apparatus in the present disclosure may cause a computer to perform steps included in the flowcharts illustrated in FIGS. 6 and 8 .

Software for implementing the scent detecting apparatus in the present disclosure may cause a computer to perform steps included in the flowchart illustrated in FIG. 8 .

Further, all numerals used in the above description are examples for specifically explaining the present disclosure, and the present disclosure is not limited to the example numerals.

The order in which steps in each flowchart described above are performed is an example for specifically explaining the present disclosure and the order may be other than that described above as long as similar advantages are attained. Further, some of the above-described steps may be performed simultaneously (in parallel) with the other steps.

The information providing method, the information providing system, the scent imparting apparatus, the scent detecting apparatus, and the information management apparatus according to the present disclosure enable easy presentation of the freshness of a plant, and therefore, are useful as an information providing method for providing information regarding a plant, an information providing system that provides information regarding a plant, a scent imparting apparatus that adds a scented substance to a plant, a scent detecting apparatus that detects at least one of a scented substance or a metabolite of the scented substance released from a plant, and an information management apparatus that manages information regarding a plant, respectively. 

What is claimed is:
 1. An information providing method for an information providing system including a scent imparting apparatus that adds a scented substance to a plant, a scent detecting apparatus that detects at least one of the scented substance or a metabolite of the scented substance released from the plant, and an information management apparatus, the information providing method comprising: adding, by the scent imparting apparatus, the scented substance to the plant; transmitting, by the scent imparting apparatus to the information management apparatus, added-amount information indicating an amount of the scented substance added to the plant; receiving, by the information management apparatus, the added-amount information transmitted by the scent imparting apparatus; storing, by the information management apparatus, the received added-amount information in an added-amount information storage unit; detecting, by the scent detecting apparatus, an amount of at least one of the scented substance or the metabolite of the scented substance released from the plant; transmitting, by the scent detecting apparatus to the information management apparatus, detected-amount information indicating the detected amount of at least one of the scented substance or the metabolite; receiving, by the information management apparatus, the detected-amount information transmitted by the scent detecting apparatus; estimating, by the information management apparatus, a freshness of the plant on the basis of the added amount of the scented substance indicated by the added-amount information stored in the added-amount information storage unit and on the basis of the detected amount of at least one of the scented substance or the metabolite indicated by the received detected-amount information; transmitting, by the information management apparatus, the freshness information regarding the estimated freshness to the scent detecting apparatus; receiving, by the scent detecting apparatus, the freshness information from the information management apparatus; and presenting, by the scent detecting apparatus, the received freshness information.
 2. The information providing method according to claim 1, wherein the plant includes a vegetable or fruit, or a fresh flower.
 3. The information providing method according to claim 1, wherein the scented substance added, by the scent imparting apparatus, not contained in the plant.
 4. The information providing method according to claim 1, wherein the estimating of the freshness, by the information management apparatus, is performed on the basis of an amount of change between the added amount and the detected amount.
 5. The information providing method according to claim 4, wherein the estimating, by the information management apparatus, includes estimating an elapsed time since addition of the scented substance to the plant as the freshness.
 6. An information providing system comprising: a scent imparting apparatus that adds a scented substance to a plant; a scent detecting apparatus that detects at least one of the scented substance or a metabolite of the scented substance released from the plant; and an information management apparatus, wherein: the scent imparting apparatus includes: an adder that adds the scented substance to the plant, and a transmitter that transmits to the information management apparatus, added-amount information indicating an amount of the scented substance added to the plant; the scent detecting apparatus includes: a detector that detects an amount of at least one of the scented substance or the metabolite of the scented substance released from the plant, a transmitter that transmits to the information management apparatus, detected-amount information indicating the amount of at least one of the scented substance or the metabolite detected by the detector, a receiver that receives freshness information regarding a freshness of the plant from the information management apparatus, and a presenter that presents the freshness information received by the receiver; and the information management apparatus includes: a first receiver that receives the added-amount information transmitted by the transmitter of the scent imparting apparatus, an added-amount information storage unit that stores the added-amount information received by the first receiver, a second receiver that receives the detected-amount information transmitted by the transmitter of the scent detecting apparatus, an estimator that estimates the freshness of the plant on the basis of the added amount of the scented substance indicated by the added-amount information stored in the added-amount information storage unit and on the basis of the detected amount of at least one of the scented substance or the metabolite indicated by the detected-amount information received by the second receiver, and a transmitter that transmits the freshness information regarding the freshness estimated by the estimator to the scent detecting apparatus.
 7. A scent imparting apparatus for adding a scented substance to a plant, the scent imparting apparatus comprising: an adder that adds the scented substance to the plant; and a transmitter that transmits added-amount information indicating an amount of the scented substance added to the plant to an information management apparatus that estimates a freshness of the plant on the basis of the added amount of the scented substance added to the plant and a detected amount of at least one of the scented substance or a metabolite of the scented substance released from the plant and detected by a scent detecting apparatus.
 8. A scent detecting apparatus for detecting at least one of a scented substance or a metabolite of the scented substance released from a plant, the scent detecting apparatus comprising: a detector that detects an amount of at least one of the scented substance or the metabolite of the scented substance released from the plant to which the scented substance is added; a transmitter that transmits detected-amount information indicating the amount of at least one of the scented substance or the metabolite detected by the detector; a receiver that receives freshness information regarding a freshness of the plant from an information management apparatus that estimates the freshness of the plant on the basis of an added amount of the scented substance added to the plant and the detected amount of at least one of the scented substance or the metabolite indicated by the detected-amount information; and a presenter that presents the freshness information received by the receiver.
 9. An information management apparatus comprising: a first receiver that receives added-amount information transmitted by a scent imparting apparatus that adds a scented substance to a plant and indicating an amount of the scented substance added to the plant; an added-amount information storage unit that stores the added-amount information received by the first receiver; a second receiver that receives detected-amount information transmitted by a scent detecting apparatus that detects at least one of the scented substance or a metabolite of the scented substance released from the plant, and indicating a detected amount of at least one of the scented substance or the metabolite; an estimator that estimates a freshness of the plant on the basis of the added amount of the scented substance indicated by the added-amount information stored in the added-amount information storage unit and on the basis of the detected amount of at least one of the scented substance or the metabolite indicated by the detected-amount information received by the second receiver; and a transmitter that transmits freshness information regarding the freshness estimated by the estimator to the scent detecting apparatus. 